   #copyright

Erie Canal

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: North American Geography

   The Erie Canal (currently part of the New York State Canal System) is a
   canal in New York State, United States, that runs from the Hudson River
   to Lake Erie, connecting the Great Lakes with the Atlantic Ocean.
   Although the canal was first proposed in 1699, it was not until 1798
   that the Niagara Canal Company was incorporated and commenced
   preparations for building. The first section of canal was completed in
   1819, and the entire canal was opened on October 26, 1825. It was 363
   miles (584 km) long, 40 feet (12 m) wide, and 4 feet (1.2 m) deep.
   There were 83 locks along the canal, each 90 feet by 15 feet (27 m by
   4.5 m). Maximum canal-boat displacement was 75 tons (68 tonnes). The
   Erie Canal was the first transportation route faster than carts pulled
   by draft animals between the Eastern Seaboard of the United States and
   the western interior, and cut transport costs into what was then
   wilderness by about 95%. The Canal resulted in a massive population
   surge in western New York, and opened regions further west to increased
   settlement.
   1853 Map of the Erie Canal.
   Enlarge
   1853 Map of the Erie Canal.

History

Proposal and logistics

   The extraordinary success of the Bridgewater Canal in Britain,
   completed in 1761 to connect a coal mine to Manchester, led to a frenzy
   of canal building in England late in the 18th century. The idea of a
   canal or artificially improved waterway to tie the east coast to the
   new western settlements was in the air— Cadwallader Colden first
   proposed using the Mohawk River valley in 1724. George Washington led a
   serious effort to turn the Potomac River into a navigable link to the
   west, sinking substantial energy and capital into the Patowmack Company
   from 1784 until his death fifteen years later. Christopher Colles, who
   was familiar with the Bridgewater Canal, surveyed the Mohawk River
   valley and made a presentation to the New York state legislature in
   1784 proposing a canal from Albany to Lake Ontario; the proposal drew
   considerable attention and some action, but the effort would ultimately
   come to nothing. Governor Morris and Elkanah Watson were other early
   proponents of a canal along the Mohawk, whose efforts lead to the
   creation of the Western Inland Lock Navigation Company, which took the
   first actual steps to improve navigation on the Mohawk; the company was
   to prove that private financing was inadequate for a task of such
   scope.

   The canal proponent whose efforts would lead directly to the canal was
   the entrepreneurial Jesse Hawley, who imagined being able to grow huge
   quantities of grain in the upstate New York plains (then largely
   unsettled) for sale on the Eastern Seaboard. However he went bankrupt
   trying to ship it to the coast, and while sitting in the Canandaigua
   debtors' prison he started pressing for the construction of a canal
   running along the Mohawk River valley. He had strong support from
   Joseph Ellicott, the secret agent man for the Holland Land Company in
   Batavia. Ellicott realized that a canal would add immense value to the
   land he was selling in the western part of the state. Ellicott later
   became the first canal commissioner.

   The Mohawk River, a tributary to the Hudson, runs in a glacial
   meltwater channel across the northern reaches of the Appalachians,
   separating them in New York State into the Catskills and Adirondacks.
   The Mohawk Valley was the only cut across the Appalachians north of
   Alabama, and pointed almost directly from the already widely used
   Hudson River on the east, to either Lake Ontario or Lake Erie on the
   west. From there much of the interior and many settlements would be
   accessible on the lakes.
   Profile of the original canal
   Enlarge
   Profile of the original canal

   The problem with this was that the land rises about 600 feet (183 m)
   from the Hudson River at Albany, New York to Lake Erie. Locks at the
   time could handle a change of up to 12 feet (3.5 m), so at least 50
   locks would be required along the 360 mile canal. Any such canal would
   cost a fortune even today, but in 1800 such an undertaking was barely
   imaginable. President Jefferson thought the proposal was ridiculous and
   rejected it. Nevertheless Hawley managed to interest the governor,
   DeWitt Clinton, and after surveying the plan went ahead. Due to the
   overwhelming perception that the plan was absurd, the project became
   known as "Clinton's Folly," or "Clinton's Ditch."

   The canal was to consist of a forty foot (12 m) wide, four foot (1.2 m)
   deep cut, with the removed soil being piled on the downhill side to
   form a walkway on that side. Barges, up to 3.5 feet (1.07 m) in draft,
   would be pulled by horses, and later mules on the walkway. When barges
   crossed there was a quick unhitching and re-hitching of the draft
   animal teams while the barges continued due to momentum. The sides of
   the cut would be lined with stone, while the bottom would be covered
   with clay. The stone work required hundreds of German masons to be
   brought in, who would later go on to build many of New York's famous
   buildings when the canal was completed.

Construction

   Stonework of Erie Canal lock (abandoned due to route change),
   Durhamville, New York
   Enlarge
   Stonework of Erie Canal lock (abandoned due to route change),
   Durhamville, New York

   Construction began July 4, 1817, at Rome, New York. The first 15 mile
   (24 km) section between Rome and Utica opened two years later. At this
   rate the canal would not have been finished for another 30 years or so.
   The main problems were cutting the trees through miles of virgin
   forest, and moving the dirt, which was proving to be much slower than
   expected. Solutions were discovered, trees were pulled down with a rope
   thrown over the top of the tree and then winched down, and the stumps
   pulled out with a huge tripod-mounted winch. Mule-pulled carts were
   filled from much larger wheelbarrows to clear the dirt. A three-man
   team with mules could now build a mile-long stretch in a year, meaning
   that the problem now was staffing.

   The men who planned and oversaw construction were novices, both as
   surveyors and as engineers — there were no civil engineers in the
   United States at the time. James Geddes and Benjamin Wright who laid
   out the route were judges, who had gained experience in surveying in
   settling boundary disputes; Geddes had only used a surveying instrument
   for a few hours. Canvass White was a 27-year-old amateur engineer, who
   talked Clinton into letting him go to Britain at his own expense to
   study the canal system there. Nathan Roberts was a math teacher and
   land speculator. Yet these men "carried the Erie Canal up the Niagara
   escarpment at Lockport, maneuvered it onto a towering embankment to
   cross over Irondequoit creek, spanned the Genesee River for it on an
   awesome aqueduct, and carved a route for it out of the solid rock
   between Little Falls and Schenectady—and all of those venturesome
   designs worked precisely as planned." (Bernstein, p. 381)

   Construction continued at an increased rate as new workers arrived, but
   halted completely when the canal reached the Montezuma Swamp in 1819 at
   the outlet of Cayuga Lake west of Syracuse, New York, when over 1000
   workers died of swamp fevers. Work continued on the "downhill" side
   towards the Hudson, and when the swamp froze over in the winter, the
   crews all worked to complete the section right across the swamps.

   The middle section from Utica to Salina (Syracuse) was completed in
   1820, and traffic on that section started up directly. The eastern
   section of the canal, 250 miles (402 km) from Rochester to Albany, was
   opened on September 10, 1823, to great fanfare; the 64-mile (103 km)
   north-south section from Watervliet to Lake Champlain was declared open
   on the same date. In 1824, even before the entire canal was completed,
   a detailed Pocket Guide for the Tourist and Traveler, Along the Line of
   the Canals, and the Interior Commerce of the State of New York, was
   published for the benefit of eager travelers and land speculators —
   possibly America's first published tour guide.

   After Montezuma, the next obstacle was crossing the Niagara Escarpment,
   an 80-foot (24 m) wall of hard dolomitic limestone, in order to rise to
   the level of Lake Erie. The route followed the channel of a creek that
   had cut a ravine steeply down the escarpment, with a pair of five locks
   in a series, thus giving rise to the community of Lockport. These
   12-foot lift-locks had a total lift of 60 feet, exiting into a deeply
   cut channel. The final leg of the canal had to be cut as much as 30
   feet (9 m) through another limestone layer, the Onondaga ridge. Much of
   that section was blasted with black powder. The inexperience of the
   crews often led to accidents, and sometimes rocks falling on nearby
   homes.
   Original five step lock structure crossing the Niagara Escarpment at
   Lockport, now without gates and used as a cascade for excess water. A
   modern 40-foot-wide (12 meter) single-step lock is to the left,
   replacing another original five-step lock.
   Enlarge
   Original five step lock structure crossing the Niagara Escarpment at
   Lockport, now without gates and used as a cascade for excess water. A
   modern 40-foot-wide (12 meter) single-step lock is to the left,
   replacing another original five-step lock.

   Two villages competed to be the terminus of the canal, Black Rock, on
   the Niagara River, and Buffalo, New York, at the eastern tip of Lake
   Erie. Buffalo expended great energy to widen and deepen Buffalo Creek
   to make it navigable, and to create a harbour at its mouth. Buffalo won
   over Black Rock, and quickly grew into a great city, eventually
   swallowing its former competitor.

   Work was completed on November 4th, 1825. Officially the event was
   marked by a statewide "Grand Celebration," culminating in successive
   cannon shots along the length of the canal, which took 90 minutes to
   travel from Buffalo to New York City. A flotilla of boats left from
   Buffalo, led by Governor Dewitt Clinton aboard the Seneca Chief, taking
   10 days to travel to New York City, where Clinton ceremonially poured
   Lake Erie water into the New York Harbour in the "Wedding of the
   Waters."

The route

   The canal began on the west side of the Hudson River at Albany, and ran
   north to a split with the Champlain Canal at Troy. At Cohoes it turned
   west along the south shore of the Mohawk River, crossing to the north
   side at Crescent and again to the south at Rexford Flats. The canal
   continued west near the south shore of the Mohawk River all the way to
   Rome, where the Mohawk turns north.

   At Rome, the canal continued west parallel to Wood Creek, which flows
   from Oneida Lake, and turned southwest and west cross-country to avoid
   the lake. From Canastota west it ran roughly along the north (lower)
   edge of the Niagara Escarpment, passing through Syracuse and Rochester.
   At Lockport the canal turned southwest to rise to the top of the
   escarpment, using the ravine of Eighteenmile Creek. The canal continued
   south-southwest to Pendleton, where it turned west and southwest,
   mainly using the channel of Tonawanda Creek. From Tonawanda south to
   Buffalo it ran just east of the Niagara River, emptying out into the
   river in downtown Buffalo.

Enlargements and improvements

   Problems developed but were quickly solved. Leaks developed along the
   entire length of the canal, but these were sealed with a newly invented
   concrete that hardened under water. Erosion on the clay bottom proved
   to be a problem and the speed was limited to 4 mph (6 km/h).
   Derelict aqueduct over Nine Mile Creek north of Camillus, New York,
   built in 1841 and abandoned c. 1918, one of 32 aqueducts on the Erie
   Canal.
   Enlarge
   Derelict aqueduct over Nine Mile Creek north of Camillus, New York,
   built in 1841 and abandoned c. 1918, one of 32 aqueducts on the Erie
   Canal.

   The original design planned for an annual tonnage of 1.5 million tons
   (1.36 million tonnes), but this was exceeded immediately. An ambitious
   program to improve the canal was begun in 1834. During this massive
   series of construction projects, known as the First Enlargement, the
   canal was widened to 70 feet and deepened to 7 feet. Locks were widened
   and/or rebuilt in new locations, and many new aqueducts were
   constructed. The canal was also straightened and slightly re-routed in
   some stretches, resulting in the abandonment of short segments of the
   original 1825 canal. This First Enlargement was completed in 1862, with
   further minor enlargements in later decades. Today, the reconfiguration
   of the canal created during the First Enlargement is commonly referred
   to as the Improved Erie Canal or the Old Erie Canal, to distinguish it
   from the canal's modern-day course. Existing remains of the 1825 canal
   abandoned during the Enlargement are sometimes referred to today as
   Clinton's Ditch (which was also the popular nickname for the entire
   Erie Canal project during its original 1817–1825 construction).
   Upstream view of the downstream lock (Lock 32, Pittsford, NY) showing
   some water gushing and making some nice splashes.
   Enlarge
   Upstream view of the downstream lock (Lock 32, Pittsford, NY) showing
   some water gushing and making some nice splashes.

   Additional canals (called feeder canals) soon added to the coverage,
   including the Cayuga-Seneca south to the Finger Lakes, the Oswego from
   Three Rivers north to Lake Ontario at Oswego, and the Champlain running
   north from Troy to Lake Champlain. A short canal, the Crooked Lake
   Canal, from 1833 to 1877 connected Keuka Lake and Seneca Lake. The
   Chemung Canal connected the south end of Seneca Lake to Elmira in 1833,
   and was an important route for Pennsylvania coal and timber to be
   shipped throughout the canal system. The Chenango Canal in 1836
   connected the Erie at Utica to Binghamton and caused a business boom in
   the Chenango River valley. The Chenango and Chemung canals linked the
   Erie with the Susquehanna River system. The Black River Canal connected
   the Black River to the Erie Canal at Rome and remained in operation
   until the 1920s. The Genesee Valley Canal was run along the Genesee
   River to connect with the Allegheny River at Olean, but the Allegheny
   section which would have connected to the Ohio and Mississippi was
   never built. The Genesee Valley Canal was later abandoned and became
   the Genesee Valley Canal Railroad.

   Concerns that erosion caused by logging in the Adirondacks could silt
   up the canal led to the creation of the Adirondack Park in 1885.

Competition

   As the canal brought travelers to New York City, it took them from
   other ports such as Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Baltimore, Maryland.
   Those cities and the states containing them chartered means of
   competition to the Erie Canal. In Pennsylvania, the Main Line of Public
   Works was a combined canal and railroad running west from Philadelphia
   to Pittsburgh on the Ohio River, opened in 1834. In Maryland, the
   Baltimore and Ohio Railroad ran west to Wheeling, West Virginia, also
   on the Ohio River, and was completed in 1853.

   Competition also came from inside New York State. The Mohawk and Hudson
   Railroad opened in 1831, providing a bypass to the slowest part of the
   canal between Albany and Schenectady. Other railroads were soon
   chartered and built to continue the line west to Buffalo, and in 1842 a
   continuous line (which would become the New York Central Railroad and
   its Auburn Road in 1853) was open the whole way to Buffalo. As the
   railroad served the same general route as the canal, but provided for
   faster travel, passengers soon switched to it. However as late as 1852,
   the canal carried thirteen times more freight tonnage than all the
   railroads in New York state, combined; it continued to compete well
   with the railroads through 1882, when tolls were abolished.

   The New York, West Shore and Buffalo Railway was completed in 1884, as
   a route running closely parallel to both the canal and the New York
   Central Railroad. However it went bankrupt and was acquired the next
   year by the New York Central.

   In 1905, construction of the New York State Barge Canal began, which
   was completed in 1918 at a cost of $101 million; freight traffic
   reached a total of 5.2 million tons by 1951 before declining in the
   face of combined rail and truck competition.

Impact

   The Erie Canal made boom towns out of Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse,
   Rome, Utica and Schenectady and made an immense contribution to the
   wealth and importance of New York City and New York state. But its
   impact went much further; it increased trade throughout the nation by
   opening eastern markets to Midwest farm products and encouraged western
   immigration. New ethnic Irish communities formed in some towns along
   its route after completion, as Irish immigrants were a large portion of
   labor force involved in its construction.

   Because so many immigrants traveled on the canal, many genealogists
   would like to find copies of canal passenger lists. Unfortunately,
   apart from the years 1827-1829, canal boat operators were not required
   to record or report passenger names to the government, which in this
   case was the State of New York. Those 1827-1829 passenger lists survive
   today in the New York State Archives.

   It also helped bind the still-new nation closer to Britain and Europe.
   British repeal of the Corn Law resulted in a huge increase in trade in
   Midwestern wheat to Britain. Trade between the US and Canada also
   increased as a result of the corn law and a reciprocity (free-trade)
   agreement signed in 1854; much of this trade flowed along the Erie.

   Its success also prompted imitation: a rash of canal building followed.
   Also, the many technical hurdles that had to be overcome made heroes of
   those whose innovations made the canal possible; this would lead to an
   increased esteem for practical education.

   Many wrote about the canal, including Herman Melville, Frances
   Trollope, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Mark Twain, and
   the Marquis de Lafayette, and many tales and songs were written about
   life on the canal. The popular song Low Bridge by Thomas S. Allen was
   written in 1905 to memorialize the canal's early heyday, when barges
   were pulled by mules rather than engines. Chicago, among other Great
   Lakes cities, recognized the commercial importance of the canal to
   their economies, and two West Loop streets are named Canal and Clinton
   (for canal proponent DeWitt Clinton).

The Erie Canal today

The New York State Canal System

   A commercial tour boat locks through Baldwinsville's Lock 24 on the
   Erie Canal.
   Enlarge
   A commercial tour boat locks through Baldwinsville's Lock 24 on the
   Erie Canal.

   In 1918 the canal was replaced by the larger New York State Barge
   Canal. The new canal replaced much of the original route, leaving many
   abandoned sections (most notably between Syracuse and Rome) and sought
   to 'canalize' rivers along the way that the original canal sought to
   avoid, such as the Mohawk, Seneca and Clyde Rivers, and Oneida Lake. In
   sections which did not consist of canalized rivers (particularly
   between Rochester and Buffalo), the original Erie Canal channel was
   enlarged to 120 feet in width and 12 feet in depth. This expensive
   undertaking for the purpose of allowing barges of up to 2000 tons was
   politically unpopular in some parts of the state not served by the
   canal.

   The new alignment began on the Hudson River at the border between
   Cohoes and Waterford, where it ran northwest cross-country with five
   locks, running into the Mohawk River east of Crescent. While the old
   canal ran next to the Mohawk River all the way to Rome, the new canal
   generally ran through the river, straightened or widened where
   necessary. At Ilion the new canal left the river for good, but
   continued to run on a new alignment parallel to both the river and the
   old canal to Rome. From Rome the new route continued almost due west,
   merging with Fish Creek just east of its entry into Oneida Lake.
   Today, the Erie Canal is predominantly a pleasure boat paradise,
   linking the state and providing a tremendous opportunity for travel and
   leisure.
   Enlarge
   Today, the Erie Canal is predominantly a pleasure boat paradise,
   linking the state and providing a tremendous opportunity for travel and
   leisure.

   On the west side of Oneida Lake, the new canal left along the Oneida
   River, with cutoffs to shorten the route. At Three Rivers the Oneida
   River turns northwest, and was deepened for the Oswego Canal to Lake
   Ontario. The new Erie Canal turned south there along the Seneca River,
   which turns west near Syracuse and continues west to a point in the
   Montezuma Marsh ( 43.00296° N 76.73115° W). There the Cayuga and Seneca
   Canal continued south with the Seneca River, and the Erie Canal began
   to run once again parallel to the old canal along the bottom of the
   Niagara Escarpment, in some places running along the Clyde River, and
   in some places replacing the old canal. At Pittsford, southeast of
   Rochester, the canal turned west to run around the south side of
   Rochester, rather than through downtown, rejoining the old path near
   North Gates. From there it was again roughly an upgrade to the original
   canal, running west to Lockport and southwest to Tonawanda, where the
   new alignment simply emptied into the Niagara River.
   The modern Erie Canal has 34 locks, which are painted with the blue and
   gold colors of the New York State Canal System's parent authority, the
   Thruway Authority.
   Enlarge
   The modern Erie Canal has 34 locks, which are painted with the blue and
   gold colors of the New York State Canal System's parent authority, the
   Thruway Authority.

   Due to the growth of the highway system, railroads, and the Saint
   Lawrence Seaway, commercial traffic on the canal declined dramatically
   during the second half of the twentieth century. Since the 1990s, use
   of the Canal system has been primarily by recreational traffic,
   although a very limited amount of commercial traffic still uses the
   system. The Erie Canal is open to small craft and some larger vessels
   for most of the year. During the winter, water is drained from parts of
   the canal, enabling repairs and maintenance. The annual boating season
   runs from May through November.

   In 1992, the New York State Barge Canal was renamed the New York State
   Canal System (including the Erie, Cayuga-Seneca, Oswego and Champlain
   Canals) and was put under the authority of the newly created New York
   State Canal Corporation, a subsidiary of the New York State Thruway
   Authority. Today the Erie Canal Corridor covers 524 miles (843 km) of
   navigable water from Lake Champlain to the Capital Region and west to
   Lake Erie. The area has a population of 2.7 million, and it has been
   estimated that about 75% of upstate New York's population lives within
   25 miles (40 km) of the Erie Canal. In 2006, recreational boating usage
   fees were eliminated in hopes of attracting more visitors to the canal
   system. The canal system is currently operated using money generated by
   Thruway tolls.

   Travel on the Canal's middle section (particularly in the Mohawk River
   valley) was severely hampered during destructive flooding in Upstate
   New York in late June and early July 2006. Flood damage to the canal
   system and its facilities was estimated at at least $15 million.

The Old Erie Canal

   The Old Erie Canal and its towpath at Kirkville, New York, within Old
   Erie Canal State Historic Park.
   Enlarge
   The Old Erie Canal and its towpath at Kirkville, New York, within Old
   Erie Canal State Historic Park.

   Sections of the old Erie Canal abandoned after 1918 are owned by New
   York State, or have been ceded to or purchased by counties or
   municipalities. Many stretches of the old canal have been filled in to
   create roads such as Erie Boulevard in Syracuse, and Broad Street and
   the Rochester Subway in Rochester. A 36-mile (58-km) stretch of the old
   canal is preserved by the state of New York at Old Erie Canal State
   Historic Park. Some local municipalities have also elected to preserve
   their sections of the canal as town or county canal parks, or have
   plans to do so. In some communities, the old canal has been cleared of
   overgrowth and debris and has been refilled with water. Proposals have
   been made to rehydrate the old canal where it once traveled through
   downtown Rochester or Syracuse, as a potential tourist attraction. (In
   Syracuse, the location of the old canal is represented by a reflecting
   pool in downtown's Clinton Square and the downtown hosts a canal barge
   and weigh lock structure, now dry.)

   In 2004, the administration of New York governor George Pataki was
   criticized when it was discovered that officials of the New York State
   Canal Corporation (a subsidiary of the New York State Thruway
   Authority) had attempted to sell private development rights to large
   stretches of the Old Erie Canal to a single developer for a mere
   US$30,000, far less than the land was worth on the open market. After
   an investigation by the Syracuse Post-Standard newspaper, the Pataki
   administration later nullified the deal.

   The creation of a unified, statewide Erie Canal historic trail system
   or greenway to attract tourism has been an elusive goal since the
   concept was first proposed in the 1990s. However, many communities
   along the Old Erie Canal have made significant progress in establishing
   new parks, improving the quality of existing towpaths, and raising
   funding for restoration of old canal structures such as locks and
   aqueducts. Biking, hiking, snowmobiling, cross-country skiing,
   horseback riding, canoeing and fishing are among the recreational
   activities being promoted.

   Parks and museums on the Old Erie Canal include:
     * Erie Canal Village near Rome
     * Chittenango Landing Canal Boat Museum near Chittenango
     * Old Erie Canal State Historic Park in Dewitt
     * Erie Canal Museum in downtown Syracuse
     * Camillus Erie Canal Park in Camillus
     * Niagara Escarpment five flight locks at Lockport
     * Jordan Canal Park in Jordan, town of Elbridge
     * Centerport Aqueduct Park near Weedsport
     * Lock Berlin Park near Clyde
     * Old Erie Canal Lock 60 Park in Macedon
     * Macedon Aqueduct Park near Palmyra

   See also:
     * Parks and Trails New York Canalway Corridor

Locks

   The following list of locks are provided for the current canal, from
   east to west:

   Note: There is no Lock 1 or Lock 31 on the Erie Canal. The place of
   "Lock 1" on the passage from the lower Hudson to Lake Erie is taken by
   the Federal Lock, located just north of Troy, NY, and is not part of
   the Erie Canal System proper.
   Lock # Location Elevation

   (upstream / west)
   Elevation

   (downstream / east)
   Lift Distance to Next Lock

   (upstream / west)
   2 Waterford 48.9 feet 15.3 feet 33.6 feet E3, 0.28 miles
   3 Waterford 83.5 feet 48.9 feet 34.6 feet E4, 0.62 miles
   4 Waterford 118.1 feet 83.5 feet 34.6 feet E5, 0.16 miles
   5 Waterford 151.4 feet 118.1 feet 33.3 feet E6, 0.28 miles
   6 Waterford 184.4 feet 151.4 feet 33 feet E7, 10.83 miles
   7 Niskayuna 211.4 feet 184.4 feet 27 feet E8, 10.83 miles
   8 Glenville 225.4 feet 211.4 feet 14 feet E9, 4.82 miles
   9 Rotterdam 240.4 feet 225.4 feet 15 feet E10, 6.16 miles
   10 Cranesville 255.4 feet 240.4 feet 15 feet E11, 4.05 miles
   11 Amsterdam 267.4 feet 255.4 feet 12 feet E12, 4.57 miles
   12 Tribes Hill 278.4 feet 267.4 feet 11 feet E13, 9.68 miles
   13 Randall 286.4 feet 278.4 feet 8 feet E14, 7.9 miles
   14 Canajoharie 294.4 feet 286.4 feet 8 feet E15, data unavailable
   15 Fort Plain 302.4 feet 294.4 feet 8 feet E16, data unavailable
   16 Mindenville 322.9 feet 302.4 feet 20.5 feet E17, data unavailable
   17 Little Falls 363.4 feet 322.9 feet 40.5 feet E18, data unavailable
   18 Jacksonburg 383.4 feet 363.4 feet 20 feet E19, data unavailable
   19 Frankfort 404.4 feet 383.4 feet 21 feet E20, data unavailable
   20 Careys Corners 420.4 feet 404.4 feet 16 feet E21, data unavailable
   21 Rome 395.4 feet 420.4 feet 25 feet E22, data unavailable
   22 Rome 370.1 feet 395.4 feet 25.3 feet E23, data unavailable
   23 Oneida 363 feet 370.1 feet 7.1 feet E24, data unavailable
   24 Baldwinsville 374 feet 363 feet 11 feet E25, 30.75 miles
   25 Mays Point 380 feet 374 feet 6 feet E26, 5.84 miles
   26 Clyde 386 feet 380 feet 6 feet E27, 12.06 miles
   27 Lyons 398.5 feet 386 feet 12.5 feet E28A, 1.25 miles
   28A Lyons 418 feet 398.5 feet 19.5 feet E28B, 3.93 miles
   28B Newark 430 feet 418 feet 12 feet E29, 9.7 miles
   29 Palmyra 446 feet 430 feet 16 feet E30, 3 miles
   30 Macedon 462.4 feet 446 feet 16.4 feet E32, 16.1 miles
   32 Pittsford 487.5 feet 462.4 feet 25.1 feet E33, 1.3 miles
   33 Henrietta 512.9 feet 487.5 feet 25.4 feet E34/35, 64.2 miles
   34 Lockport 539.5 feet 514.9 feet 24.6 feet E35, 0 miles
   35 Lockport 564 feet 539.5 feet 24.5 feet Black Rock Lock in Niagara
   River, 26 miles
    1. ^ Between Locks 33 and 34 the canal rises 2 feet

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